Christoval facing almost 900-mile trek

SAN ANGELO, Texas - As the adage goes, “The only two certainties in life are death and taxes.”

You can amend that saying by adding the UIL’s biennial realignment.

On Monday morning, a standing-room-only crowd of high school football coaches and administrators gathered to see what the UIL had in store for their respective programs over the next two seasons.

For a couple of county schools — specifically TLCA and Christoval — the changes that will be reflected for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years are arduous yet welcomed.

Christoval head coach Justin Taylor, who led his squad to an 8-2 record and a playoff appearance, said he was pleased with the quality of his competition in District 3-2A Division I.

The Cougars were grouped with Forsan, McCamey and a familiar league foe in Ozona. The one kink in Christoval’s league schedule is an 892-mile round trip to Anthony.

To put that trip into context, Anthony — which sits just west of El Paso on the New Mexico state line — is an 824-mile round trip from Phoenix.

Despite the long-distance trek, Taylor felt it would be a nice change to play a team in far West Texas.

“It’s going to be a neat experience because I don’t think some of our kids have gone that far west,” Taylor said. “They’ll actually get to see mountains and that kind of stuff.”

TLCA, meanwhile, moved up two classifications to District 4-3A Division II.

The Eagles, which are coming off their first UIL playoff victory and program-best 10-1 record, will look to make waves in a stacked district.

The six-team league includes perennial powers Alpine, Crane and Sonora, which combined for a 27-9 record, and six playoff victories last year. Reagan County and Grape Creek round out the district.

“Obviously we have a couple of traditional powers in there that we’ll have to deal with, competition-wise,” TLCA head coach Johnny Burleson said. “It means, for us, that we need to work.”

Burleson, who enters his second year this fall, said the silver lining was the travel schedule was not as daunting as he first imagined.

“I was hoping it would go that way. We’d rather go West than East,” Burleson said. “It worked out for us in that respect. ... That’s the nature of the beast.”

Eldorado’s Bryan Green was faced with a travel conundrum as his squad was slotted with Iraan, Irion County, Van Horn and Wink in District 5-2A Division II.

“Van Horn and Wink, those are some pretty good treks for us,” Green said.

While Van Horn is a 520-mile round trip and Wink is a 408-mile journey, Eldorado was able to stagger the treks over the two years.

Eldorado will travel to Van Horn this season and host Wink before switching sites in 2015.

“It kind of evens out for us, which is good,” Green said.

But the district also boasts some stiff competition.

Wink, which eliminated Eldorado from the playoffs last year, finished 8-4. Iraan went 11-1 and appears to be primed for another postseason run.

“It’s going to be a very competitive district,” Green said. “Iraan is always a perennial top-10 team and, Wink, of course, we played them in the playoffs.”

Reigniting rivalry

One of the most interesting pieces of news emerged Monday out of the six-man ranks.

Robert Lee head coach Shay Avants said the Coke County rivalry with Bronte will be renewed in the 2014-2015 season.

“It was one of those deals that the football game hadn’t been played in so many years, and Bronte assistant coach (Rocky) Rawls approached me about it during last football season,” Avants said. “I thought it would be cool to revive the Coke County championship again.”

The Steers are slated to host Bronte, for a six-man contest, in a Week 1 matchup.

The next year, the Longhorns will host Robert Lee and play in an 11-man game.

“We thought it’d be great to get the fans and the communities back involved,” Avants said. “It’s a rivalry I haven’t experience yet, so I’m looking forward to it.”

The last time both teams played against each other was in 2003. Bronte defeated Robert Lee 51-14 in Week 10.

Winners And Losers

Realignment always brings up the question, “Who were the winners and losers today?”

The biggest winner may be the members of District 6-6A Division II, which is composed of Menard, Bronte, Miles, Roby, Roscoe and Winters.

Roby is the only of those teams that made the playoffs last season. The Lions went 6-5 and lost in the first round.

The Yellow Jackets, who ended last season at 5-4, could see an increase in wins with Roby and Roscoe added to their district schedule. The two teams combined for a 10-11 record a year ago.

Menard returns a slew of athletes, highlighted by Eddie Duque and twin brothers Grant and Garret Emmons, in what could be a breakout year for the program.

Miles is also on the rise, especially with head coach Chad Currie entering his second season at the helm. The Bulldogs return a slew of playmakers, including Kaleb Carroll, Cody Krueger, JT Burleson and Shelton Hohensee.

Nice to See You, Again

The Wall High School football team, which had the best season in the program’s history last year by reaching the state final, could see the schedule ramp up when it competes in District 3-3A Division I.

The Hawks will take on familiar foes in Bangs, Brady and Early — from District 6-2A last year — but also face new competition in Clyde, and noted rivals Jim Ned and Merkel.

“Those will be some good additions,” Wall head coach Houston Guy said of Jim Ned and Merkel. “We played them during our preseason and during basketball; so we have some familiarity with them. ... It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Hello My Name Is

Mitch McLemore, who accepted the Juntion head coach and athletic director post a month ago, made his UIL realignment debut Monday.

The former Stamford defensive coordinator said the experience of trying to set up scrimmages and rearrange a football schedule was daunting at first, but became easier as he spoke to his cohorts throughout the morning.

“It went about as smooth as it could,” McLemore said. “We were really blessed. The people taking care of things before I got there did a great job.”